It’s that time again: Time to enter the Patson paradox
The last time we focused on Patson Daka it was because of a pivotal miss in a huge game. It didn’t go on to cost us, but he continues to divide fans. Now he’s back from injury and with Leicester’s striker situation, are we re-entering the Patson paradox?
He’s the ever smiling, optimistic striker who’s no stranger to going from being first choice back to second or third choice only to come full circle and be first choice again. As Patson Daka’s return to full fitness continues, what does his role in the Leicester City squad look like now?
In terms of the guys who have been out for a longer period, they are getting closer. Patson has been on the grass and is a bit more progressive with his rehab. He seems to be getting closer.
- Steve Cooper in his pre match press conference this week
Two weeks ago we were told that was nowhere near. This is Leicester so we probably won't get an exact timeframe for his return, he'll just appear in the match day squad one game soon. This is presuming he is part of Cooper's plans. Quite where he stands in Cooper's view, and against our other strikers, is hard to predict given his absence.
If some of our best players, Ricardo and Fatawu, can't get a start, is there hope for Daka, a player most fans would not put anywhere near that category? Possibly. The key themes this season have been moments of brilliance and fine margins. Had Daka been able to get back to match fitness a week or two earlier, then the conversation might have been about him going straight back into the lineup.
This was after the woeful displays from Odsonne Édouard at Walsall and the poor Everton cameo. Seemingly, Daka has nothing to fear from him as things stand.
It's an interesting position to have both strikers at the club at the same time. Leicester were linked with Édouard at the same time as Daka but ultimately opted for the Zambian while Crystal Palace snapped up Édouard.
It was a sliding doors moment where some Foxes fans would have preferred that we'd pursued Édouard. The Frenchman’s minutes so far have been brief but what we’ve seen has been nowhere near convincing.
With Cannon shipped off to Stoke, that just leaves our rustling king in Daka's way. Jamie Vardy struggled to impose himself on the Everton game but has played his role in both of the wins against Bournemouth and Southampton.
The mood, and the performances (largely) have lifted and when the team has scored in every game this season, a record on par with your defending Premier League Champions, goals aren't top of the must make improvements list.
This week marked 3 years since Daka's dominant display at Spartak Moscow, relatively early into his Foxes career. The striker bagged four goals as Leicester came back to win the game and we thought that perhaps we were indeed getting the striker we thought we'd signed from Salzburg.
The one who'd been compared to Erling Haaland and who had averaged a league goal every 40-odd minutes at one point in the 2020/21 season. But Daka's time at Leicester has been full of ups and downs, in favour and out of favour. A positive start to a season overshadowed by one single miss in a game.
Patson’s Leicester future was uncertain at the end of the 2023/24 season. He’d been a regular starter for the first part of last season, favoured by Maresca. That was before Leicester forgot the meaning of being clinical and combined that with Daka’s woeful shots and misses. Jamie Vardy edged him out and with the Premier League beckoning, perhaps Patson was on the way out.
Our writers and readers took a closely split Brexit approach to whether he’d still be here or not. Injury late into pre-season ultimately curtailed any prospect of him leaving. Our Zambian hasn’t missed much either, judging on the performances from our strikers so far, he shouldn't be too disheartened about his chances.
Daka has been another Leicester City victim of poor timing and bad luck. Like Andrej Kramaric and Islam Slimani, the price tag and weight of fan expectation that comes with that is always a barrier.
Why we always seem to fall into the trap of paying (big) for a striker who up to joining us has been scoring prolifically that either doesn't suit our style or for whom we refuse to play to their strengths needs its own analysis. Daka has circled joining this list, where we ultimately let them leave under a cloud and for pennies to go off and continue scoring elsewhere.
It's not Daka's fault that his signing was portrayed to be the long term replacement for Vardy. They share some qualities but he isn't Vardy. Few are. Trying to force him to do that role was a square peg in a round hole. And Vardy is still going strong.
When he was brought into Enzo Maresca’s team, the style did favour him more and the Italian valued his efforts and the different qualities he brought. For a time they best suited our overall style and playing for possession. This was analysed excellently at the time and while a portion of fans weren't necessarily on board with it, the reasons largely stacked up.
To some fans, Daka is a fall guy. Harsher given that he seems like a lovely bloke who just loves to smile. But he was an easy target to blame while others got away with it. The frustration never stemmed from his work ethic or movement. His movement was a big factor in why Maresca favoured him. He freed others up. Add in that sprinkling of pace and it's a dangerous combination.
We've referenced the big miss but the frustrations and why Daka polarised the King Power crowd all stem from his decision making. Not making the smart choice, faltering in some one on ones and rushing his shots. For everything he got right off the ball, movement, dragging defenders, he was at times wasteful on it.
Unless you are Vardy, and there's a weight of history beyond compare, a striker is judged on their output first. Goals and assists.
Daka's record at Leicester is 22 goals in 96 games, with 13 assists. That's a 0.74 goal contribution every 90 minutes on average. His record was better at Salzburg but he was the focal point there and had a lot more minutes to contribute. Plus the argument of a team who dominated their league versus us and the challenge of the Premier League.
Last season though, his goal contribution per 90 minutes was 0.99. Where we all expected Kelechi Iheanacho to have delivered. While Maresca did favour him, he wasn’t starting games early on in the season. He was really given the nod as we entered December 2023 and he got off to a flying start.
There were question marks over if Daka remained a Fox, whether he was good enough for the Premier League. Has he really had a fair crack at it? He got plenty of minutes in our relegation season but given how generally poor the team played, he’s no more culpable than anybody else.
It’s easy to forget that Daka is still young. When he signed for the Foxes he was only 22, he’s still only 26 now. Entering the years that tend to be the sweet spot for strikers.
Patson himself said that if we were promoted, he would be a different player to the one who struggled in a failing team. He’s another who spoke of learning and developing under Maresca so it will be interesting to see how he applies everything he’s worked on in a Premier League stadium again.
The way we've been playing, on the basis of Everton and earlier, doesn’t always lend itself especially well to Vardy but being the man he is, he’s trying to make it work. Though he was a passenger for parts of the Bournemouth game. Still, he wouldn’t have felt threatened when he was pulled for Édouard.
While Vardy can extend his endurance, living off the hate and chants from opposition fans, we cannot expect him to last the course of 90 minutes plus stoppage every week.
We need a second striker that can come off the bench and hurt a tiring opposition, Daka could play that role well. Perhaps it can help Édouard too, some healthy competition to get minutes. We haven’t entirely abandoned the Maresca philosophy of play either, which lends itself to the Zambian.
There’s a sense that Daka has something to prove not just to Cooper or the fans, but to himself as well about playing at this level. The concerns over his Premier League capabilities are fair but he’s matured since then, had time to get up to speed in the English league and held his own in the physical Championship games.
A little bit like Stephy Mavididi, who ignoring the Southampton performance, had been enjoying having more space to move in without as many physical interactions, Daka too could benefit from this.
What is tantalising is seeing what Daka’s movement could do in terms of opening up the pitch for Buonanotte or El Khannouss to run into. And we already know that Fatawu and Daka have some understanding from last year.
Personally, I’d love to see Daka given a chance again and hopefully prove a few people wrong.
